1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a method and system for configuring among call processing applications in a call processing system or call flow. More particularly, the present invention relates to the configuration among call processing applications using a Graphical User Interface (GUI) editor.
2. Background Art
Call processing systems have become highly prevalent in modern day society. Such systems typically involve a telephone caller dialing into a computerized integrated voice response (IVR) system and being presented with a menu of options. Each option corresponds to a particular Dual Tone Multiple Frequency (DTMF) digit, also known as a xe2x80x9ctouch tonexe2x80x9d on the caller""s telephone, thereby enabling the caller to select a desired option by pressing one of the touch tone keys on his/her telephone.
In operation, the call arrives over a public switched telephone network and is received by a server in the IVR system. The call is then connected to a particular application and analyzed by the server so that a particular group of resources required to process the call can be assembled. Typical resources include tone generators, speech recognition algorithms, echo cancellors, etc. The assembling, modification, and dissembling of call resource groups is well known in the art.
In existing systems, configuration among various applications in a call often require expert programmers to write code to hand-off or return the call groups from one application to another. This configuration process is both time consuming and expensive. The problems are compounded when the various applications are purchased from different vendors. This often requires modification of the applications so they can interface with one another in the call processing system.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a method and system to graphically configure among call processing applications in a call processing system. In addition, there is a need for such configuration to take place without users having to modify the applications.